The government is planning to reschedule its development plan because of the deficit in its budget which was announced recently by the Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance Anas Al-Saleh, reports Al- Anba daily quoting ministerial sources. They indicated that the government will also reconsider its developmental projects because of the deficit that resulted from the decline in the oil prices, which has negatively impacted the country’s national income.

The sources explained that the move to reconsider the country’s development projects does not mean the projects will be cancelled. It is aimed to expedite the completion of the essential ones and suspend the rest until the oil prices improve and the deficit in the budget reduces. They affirmed the government’s keenness to ensure citizens are not negatively affected by handling the deficit without touching the country’s financial reserves and through ways that will be announced later. Meanwhile, a number of huge projects have been added in the country’s developmental plan until year 2040 including a project to develop the geographical information system.

The contract of this project is expected to be signed in September 2015. Another project included in the plan is the one for structuring the country including the population, reports Al- Shahed daily quoting informed sources. They explained that a project on smart transportation systems and a study on the pedestrian movement which will be linked to the metro project and the pedestrian bridges throughout the country have also been included in the plan. The sources indicated that projects will identify five locations for major quarries to be used in the projects until year 2040 as well as an integrated system to store and exchange information within the country.